Evening visit to St. Nicholas Church and surrounding areas – 12th July 2020

Date: 12th July 2020

Time: from 9:15 p.m.

Weather: dry, setting sun, dark, 17°C

After the success of my evening visit on 10th July 2020, I decided on a quick return visit.

When I arrived on site, I walked immediately to the entrance to the Badger sett. The peanuts that I had left on my previous visit had not surprisingly all gone. The Badgers had received their reward even though I got nothing in return in terms of a sighting 2 nights ago 😀. Being ever generous, I scattered some more peanuts at the sett entrance and leading away from it in the hope that tonight’s visit would be more successful.

I then walked down to my usual Red Fox watching location and left them the bones and other remains from my slow-cooked free range chicken outside one of the entrances and exits to the hedge that they regularly use. As I did so, I noticed a chewed up tennis ball. Red Foxes are well known for “borrowing” items such as balls, kids toys and footwear so I am guessing that someone nearby is missing a tennis ball 😀.

I then returned to the same watching location as on my previous visit and settled down at 9:30 p.m.

I quickly heard some "geckering" from the direction of the hedge and where I had left the chicken. I guessed that the cubs had found it and were squabbling over who was entitled to it 😀.  

At about the same time, I briefly saw a Red Fox run across the grassy strip that runs parallel to Church Hill down to St. Nicholas Lane. However, it was too brief to determine whether it was an adult or a cub.

Shortly afterwards at 9:40 p.m., a Reeves' Muntjac crossed the same area and it, or another individual, crossed back at 10:00 p.m. directly in front of a Red Fox cub.

That same grassy strip produced several sightings of the Red Fox cubs between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. but, unlike on my previous visit when I saw all 4 cubs together, these sightings all involved individuals.

On 2 occasions a Red Fox cub walked up the grassy strip to emerge at the edge of the car park and since this area is partially illuminated by street lighting, I did get some good views, particularly of one of them who was very active foraging and digging.

At 10:30 p.m., whilst I was watching the second of these Red Fox cubs, I started to hear some rustling in the bushes and hedge close to me. A few minutes later, after the Red Fox cub had disappeared from view, I turned round to see the distinctive black and white head of a Badger emerging from the base of the hedge. It started sniffing the air, then stared directly at me and then disappeared from view. Whilst I had again been mindful of the wind direction and chosen a watching location which unfortunately didn’t give me a view of the main sett entrance, the Badger had decided to emerge from another point.

As I walked back home down Church Hill, I again saw at least 2 Pipistrelles hunting for moths and other insects attracted to the street lights. 

With regard to birds, I heard a Song Thrush singing as I walked up Church Hill plus a calling Green Woodpecker. As I arrived at St. Nicholas Church, there was a noisy group of c.20 “screaming” Swifts which continued with their periodic fly-pasts for about 10 minutes.

Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):

Badger

Red Fox

Reeves' Muntjac

Pipistrelle sp.

Swift

Song Thrush

Green Woodpecker

Swift

Site totals to date:

Birds = 48

Mammals = 4

Butterflies = 18

Dragonflies and damselflies = 6

Reptiles = 1

💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚

Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature